Tourism and related subject experts opine that countries, including leading western countries such as USA, UK, etc. are easing their visa norms, rules, etc., especially the visitor visa rules, regulations, etc. to attract more Chinese (and citizens of some other nations, too) into their countries.

They are pointing to statistics and other facts to back their arguments that Chinese visitors constitute the largest segments of overseas travelers, and that quite a few countries are easing their visa rules, to woo them to their shores. Thus, it is being said that China would exceed the US, as the world’s largest travel and tourism economy in 2027.

According to David Scowsill, president and chief executive of the World Travel and Tourism Council, one of the major hindrances to world tourism is the fact that 70% of the tourists still have to visit embassies of the countries that they wish to travel to.

An academic, Professor Yang Jinsong of the China Tourism Academy, whose specialization is international tourism states that visas continue to be a major hindrance to outbound tourism. He further averred that if the visa barriers were to be removed, the growth in tourism would be extraordinary.

But, professor Yang adds that the tremendous growth in tourism by Chinese nationals is increasingly forcing more and more countries to rethink their visa policies and this has led to simplified procedures of visa applications for Chinese and sometimes even visa waivers for them.

Not just China, even nationals of some other countries too are benefiting from more liberal visa rules, regulations, etc. of receiving countries. This trend, according to experts is bound to happen and continue despite concerns such as illegal immigration, terrorism,overstays, etc. And so, this means that in the near and not too distant future, e-visas, reciprocity, etc. among nations, to further reduce and eliminate visa barriers to make travel easier, etc. will increase and continue.